


New Promises

by Carbynn



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Ed-Typical Cursing, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 08:19:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14712500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carbynn/pseuds/Carbynn
Summary: After Roy achieves his goal of becoming Führer, Ed has a promise to make good on.





	New Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Royed day everyone! I hope you enjoy my humble contribution.

The way things had been going, Ed hadn’t been sure the celebration would ever die down. At least the house wasn’t totally trashed, aside from the blue and red streamers, Roy’s colors of choice, hung on every available surface and the small army of helium balloons that crowded the ceiling in the entryway. Riza’s firm suggestion and Ed’s very specific threats had managed to keep most of the confetti confined to the yard and a blizzard of it was probably getting blown down the street right at that very second but Ed was too busy shoveling paper plates and cups into a trash bag to care about potential angry neighbors and the mild environmental disasters that might result from a small influx of white and blue squares of crepe paper.

They were a little beyond angry neighbors anyhow. The small battalion of military guard stationed around the quiet little subdivision would make sure of that.

It felt like the campaign had dragged on forever. Partially, it was that no one really even knew how a campaign or even an election was supposed to work. Sure some parliamentary figures had been kinda-sorta voted into office every now and then under Bradley to keep up the illusion of him not being a total dictator (emphasis on _dick,_ ) but an actual campaign for an actual election for an actual position of power? Unheard of. Grumman had done all he could to lay the groundwork, but some things could really only be learned through experience.

Then, unrelated to the issue of logistics, the campaign had dragged because it drained. It had been hard on Roy, on _both_ of them, living under the ever-watchful eye of the press and the public, cultivating an image, watching words, running on high day in and day out from one end of the country to another giving interviews and speaking to crowds. Ed had tried his best to keep up, but his work at the university made it difficult to stay out of town as often as Roy had to be, which in turn made things even more difficult.

Still, Ed hadn’t complained, wouldn’t ever think to complain because Roy _deserved_ this, and was the best man for the job as far as he was concerned, personal bias aside. He’d have gladly suffered decades of this stress for Roy if it meant Roy ended up on top, ended up in the position he’d been shooting for his whole life, ended up as the first democratically elected leader Amestris had ever seen.

And of course he had. Of course he would. Part of Ed had been terrified that he wouldn’t, that that rat ass bastard Ghrymes would somehow snatch the victory out from under him and set the country back another fifty years and break Roy’s spirit at the same time, but everything, mercifully, had worked out in the end.

Still, he’d spent months making a plan. Whether Roy won or lost, things between them needed to change and, _for_ a change, Ed wanted to be the one to bring it up. It was only fair, after all. Roy had been the one, years ago, after he and Al had moved back to Central from Risembool after the Promised Day and Al’s long recovery to take up teaching and studying respectively, to initiate their relationship by pursuing Ed. Roy had been the first one to say ‘I love you.’ Roy had been the one to suggest cohabitation. Roy had done most of the leg work, and it was high time Ed return the favor.

That didn’t stop him, of course, from being nervous as all fucking get out. It was a big step, and Ed was beginning to wonder just what the hell he was thinking when he came up with the idea of initiating this on the heels of Roy’s ascending to his long-coveted station. What if Roy was too drunk to even understand what he was asking? What if it was too much? What if it was too impractical or too difficult to maneuver in the wake of his victory? What if Roy just… didn’t want to?

And, _god_ , what if Roy had _lost_?

Of course that wouldn’t have changed a single goddamn thing, and Ed would still be doing this, but everything would be different. Worse, probably. Roy might have actually turned him down. Not that Ed was one hundred percent sure he still wouldn’t, but if he waited until he was one hundred percent sure, he’d never do it, because one hundred percent was a hyperbole he didn’t quite believe in.

 “Why don’t you leave that for the morning, love? It’s late.” Roy’s arms, surprisingly steady considering his supposed state of intoxication not even an hour before, wrapped around Ed’s waist from behind and pulled him back into his chest, startling him out of his thoughts. “Why don’t we go to bed?”

Ed tied off the trash bag and gave it a half-hearted little heave towards the over-filled can in the corner of the kitchen before turning in Roy’s arms and settling his hands on his hips. “Is that an order, Führer Mustang, Sir?”

He didn’t quite miss the little flare of heat in Roy’s eyes, sharp and clear despite all his stumbling earlier, and Ed was starting to formulate a hunch. “Would it matter if it were? Following orders isn’t exactly your finest skill.”

Ed regarded him for a moment, taking in the features of his face, mostly unchanged by the years aside from a few more well-defined lines around his eyes. The bastard wasn’t even graying yet. He was still fucking gorgeous, and he still looked like home.

“I knew you weren’t as drunk as you were acting,” Ed accused finally, and thank fuck for that. The tell-tale flush was absent from his cheeks, and, in fact, he could barely even smell any alcohol on his breath.

Roy’s face broke into a grin. “A calculated act crafted specifically to clear our house of busybody interlopers.”

“That’s a fine way to refer to your team and closest supporters. What do you say about me when I’m not around?”

Roy hummed and reached up to brush Ed’s bangs back out of his eyes. “Just that you’re incredible, beautiful, my entire reason for living, unspeakably precious—“

“Please, spare me your sap,” Ed said, but there’s no heat in it and Roy knew that, at that point, it was all an act anyway. He caught Roy’s hand at his temple with his own and laced their fingers together, separating from his hold and tugging him towards the bedroom. “C’mon.”

Ed’s heart crawled higher and higher up his throat with every step towards the bedroom, and by the time they actually made it he thought he might actually pass out.

The bedroom was cool and quiet, completely unmarked by the chaos of the celebration that had spread through the rest of the house, and it was that familiarity that soothed Ed’s frayed nerves and gave him a little bit of the courage he needed to force his pounding heart back into his chest where it belonged.

The small box in his pocket was heavier than it had any right to be and he could feel it weighing him down as he took a few steps towards where Roy was rifling through a dresser drawer and pulling out pajamas.

“So how does it feel?” Ed asked, sitting on the edge of the bed closest to Roy and crossing his arms, watching him move. “Now that we’re alone, how do you really feel?”

Roy turned, a shirt and pajama pants clutched in his hands, and regarded Ed and his position on the edge of the bed. “Relieved,” he admitted. “And sorry.”

That caught Ed by surprise and it took him a shamefully long moment to recover himself. “What the fuck are you sorry for?”

“I’ve put you through hell,” Roy said, fingers visibly tightening in the fabric of his pajamas. “I know that you’ve hated every second of this.”

“Yeah, I have.” Ed didn’t see a point in lying about it. “I hate fucking bullshit politics and the press and ninety percent of the idiots who people this fucked up country, but I don’t hate you. I told you I’d see you to the top no matter what, didn’t I? D’you think I’m gonna hold a grudge because I had to smile pretty for a few pictures and spend a few nights alone?”

“It’s been more than a few nights, Ed.”

“Yeah, well, that just means you’ll have to make it up to me, doesn’t it?” Ed sighed and uncrossed his arms. “Look, Roy, don’t worry about me, alright? I knew what I was signing up for when I got into bed with you. This is supposed to be the best day of your life.”

Roy nodded once and loosened his hands in the pajamas, draping them over his arm as he began working open the buttons of his shirt. “I don’t mean to belittle the moment. I’ve been working for this my whole life, of course I’m happy. I just want to be sure that you are, too.”

Ed stood and crossed over to Roy, brushing his hands out of the way and starting in on the buttons himself. “D’you really think I’d stick around if I weren’t? Do you get the impression that I’m particularly inclined to be quiet with my opinions, Mustang?”

Roy’s laugh vibrated through Ed’s hands and his hands came up to rest on Ed’s hips. “Never that, love.”

Ed finished with the buttons and let Roy’s shirt hang open, because pushing it off of this shoulders would mean he’d have to move his hands and Ed wasn’t quite ready to break contact yet. He shifted a little closer, keeping the palms of his hands pressed flat against Roy’s chest. “Besides, there’s got to be some benefit to shacking up with the Führer, right?” he teased. “A national holiday in my honor or a parade or something since you feel like you owe me.”

Roy cocked an eyebrow and inclined his head. “Oh? Well, if I recall correctly, I think you’re the one who owes me. Five hundred and twenty cenz once I made Führer, isn’t that right?”

Ed’s heart leapt to his throat. This was an opening if he ever saw one. “That was a shit promise,” he said, working to keep any trace of nerves out of his tone. “What if I trade it for a better one?”

“Better—“

Roy’s words seemed to die in his throat as Ed drew away enough to withdraw the little box from his pocket and offer it forward. “Marry me?”

For a long moment, Roy didn’t say anything, and Ed had only just begun to start panicking when Roy dragged him close again and cupped his face in his hands, tipping his head back to kiss him deeply.

Ed nearly dropped the box but he recovered himself quickly, locking his arms around Roy and falling into the kiss with relish. It was better than the kiss they’d shared, among a crowd of half-drunk onlookers, after the radio had announced the results of the election. It was better than the first stolen kiss outside of headquarters after an impromptu visit following his and Al’s relocation from Risembool. It was better than the way Roy had kissed him when he backed him down onto the bed and stripped him naked for the first time. It was better than any kiss that had come before it and it tasted like promise, like years of love and need and everything in between.

“Edward,” Roy murmured, breaking the kiss and pressing his forehead against Ed’s. “Edward, of course I will. Of course.” Ed could tell that he was working to hold back a veritable avalanche of emotion and the shine in his eyes didn’t quite escape his notice, either. “There isn’t anything I want more in the world than to spend the rest of my life with you.” One of Roy’s hands shifted down and he traced the outline of Ed’s kiss-swollen lips with his thumb. “You beat me to it, you know.”

“Yeah?” Ed breathed against the pad of Roy’s thumb. “Well, I figured it was my turn to initiate. It’s always you, and you deserve to know that I. I mean. How I feel, y’know? I love you, and I know I don’t say it enough so I thought… _fuck_ … I thought that if I don’t say it enough, that if you agonize all the time just _wondering_ , then maybe this would start to make up for it, because I do love you, you bastard, and I want to wake up next to you every day for the rest of my life and even that won’t be enough.”

Roy was definitely crying when he leaned in to kiss Ed again; Ed could feel the tell-tale moisture against his own face when Roy’s cheek brushed his own. “I’ve never doubted you, love.”

“Good.” Ed withdraws a little to fiddle with the ring box, getting it open and taking the ring from it with surprisingly steady hands. “You deserve to know how fucking loved you are.” He caught Roy’s left hand and slipped the ring onto his finger with a firm decisiveness, and Ed took a moment to marvel at how _good_ and _right_ it looked there.

“I’ll have to get one for you, too,” Roy said, turning his hand and lacing their fingers together. “And we’ll have to tell the team. And the press, people will notice the ring and I’d rather that news come from us rather than from speculation. There’s a lot to be done.”

“Yeah, but not tonight,” Ed said, tugging Roy towards the bed. “Tonight you’re all mine.”

Roy caught on immediately and the spark in his eyes flared to life with a heat that struck Ed to his very core. “Surely you aren’t implying that I should go to bed in my day clothes.”

“You’re right, what _was_ I thinking? We better strip ‘em off of you first.”

“Why Edward, I was _so_ hoping you’d say that.”

Roy seized Ed by the waist and twisted them at the last minute, sending Ed backwards onto the mattress with Roy pinning him down, the hot weight of him heavy and familiar.

“Kinda hard to strip you when I’m trapped underneath you.”

“I suppose I’m the one who will have to do the stripping then,” Roy purred, trailing a hand down the front of Ed’s shirt.

“Guess so,” Ed said, shivering and marveling that his man, his _fiancé,_ could still do this to him after all the years they’d spent together.

In all of his early years, Ed never could have imagined anything like this. This was joy, pure and simple. Joy and belonging and love in a way that he never thought he’d live to experience, that he didn’t _deserve_ to experience when it came right down to it, but he was grateful all the same for the luck that had brought Roy Mustang into his life.

“You look pensive,” Roy murmured, starting in on the buttons of Ed’s shirt and brushing his lips against every inch of skin he exposed on the way down.

“There’s a lot to think about.”

“There is,” Roy agreed, pushing Ed’s shirt off of his shoulder and starting in on trailing kisses around the curve of the scar leftover from the long-gone automail. “Right now, all I want to think about is you.”

Ed hissed when Roy scraped his teeth against a particularly sensitive bundle of scar tissue. “Slacking off on the Führership already huh?” he managed. “Maybe I voted for the wrong guy.”

“Too bad, you’re stuck with me now, both as your Führer and your lawfully wedded husband.”

“We’re not married yet, jackass.”

Roy’s laugh reverberated through Ed’s chest. “Soon. As soon as possible, so we can start living the rest of our lives together.”

“We’re already living the rest of our lives,” Ed said, urging Roy up for a kiss. “The _best_ of our lives.”

Roy pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Ed’s mouth. “I love you, Edward, far more than words can express.”

“Then stop fuckin’ talking.”

Roy, to his surprise, complied.


End file.
